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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- agentrankovic@ciudad.com.ar (Ciudad, Argentina; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: MICROSOFT/YAHOO AWARDS <notification@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: agentrankovic@ciudad.com.ar
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:47:46 -0300 (CLST)
Subject: W201102/AYP872-05
============================
Ticket number: 67005568
Batch number: W201102/AYP872
============================
We are happy to inform you that you have won a prize money of Two
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling (£250,000.00) in the All Webmail©/Yahoo! E-
mail promotion.
Your email address with ticket number: 67005568 and batch number: W201102/BATC872
was randomly selected among millions of email addresses of unions, associations, and corporate
bodies that subscribed to YAHOO, HOTMAIL, GMAIL and few from other e-mail providers/domains that
are active online. 12 people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of
the Selected Winners this month of February.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE/CLAIMS
All winners would receive
their prize money in cheque which would be delivered to their doorstep. All prize awards MUST be
claimed not later than three weeks from the date of notification. Any prize not claimed within this
period will be forfeited and returned to its source as unclaimed Prize/Fund.
To begin your claims,
kindly contact our claims agent on the email address below with your batch number and ticket
number.
agentrankovic@ciudad.com.ar
Name of Agent: David Rankovic
Mrs. Heather Matlin
Notification Officer
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Anti-fraud resources: